In a couple of days the Sinhala and Tamil New Year will dawn. The New Year is a time of rejoicing for most Sri Lankans. It is specially a great day for children. They wear new clothes and feed on swell food like Kiribath, kevum and other traditional sweets.

On this day everybody is happy - enemies become friends, children worship their parents and have blessings bestowed on them.

So we wish all of you a peaceful Aluth Avurudu and Pudu Varudam.

Until next time

Aunty Sunshine

• The Temple of the Tooth Relic
• Shopping with mother
• The rape of a forest
• Our first one-day international
• Trees
• Mark Twain, the famous writer
• The Avurudu mood
• Happy Aluth Avurudu
• Plant features

The Temple of the Tooth Relic

The Tooth Relic was brought by Prince Dantha and Princess Hemamala to Sri Lanka. The Dalada Maligawa was built by King Wimaladarma Sooriya 1.

The Dalada Maligawa hosts the Esala Perahara every year in the month of August. Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama, and Pattini Devala peraharas also join this perahara.

Sri Lankans as well as foreigners come to see the perahara.

The present Diyawadane Nilame is Mr. Neranjan Wijerathne.

The Dalada Maligawa brings extra beauty to the city of Kandy. It's a great blessing to Sri-Lankans.

Duminga Wijesinghe
Mahamaya Girls' College;
Kandy

Shopping with mother

Last Saturday I went shopping with my mother and sister. We went to "Majestic City". There were lots of people there because it was a holiday.

First we climbed up the stairs to the first floor. Then we went to the toy shop. My little sister was insistent that she wanted a Barbie doll. So my mother bought a beautiful shampoo magic Barbie for her and a pretty Mermaid Barbie for me. My sister wanted a puzzle game so mother bought it for her too. I bought some key tags and some stickers from my own pocket money.

After that we ate some chocolates and bought some toffees. We roamed a bit more and found the book shop at the corner. We went there and bought two story books for me and a colouring book for my sister. Then my mother bought some goods that she needed.

At last we went to Wonderland and bought two tokens. My sister and I were suprised to see the wonderful games at Wonderland. My sister and I really enjoyed ourselves playing most of the video games.

I was very happy that I was able to go shopping with my mother and sister.

Himashi Alwis
Holy Family Convent
Bambalapitiya

The rape of a forest

They stood stiff with pride and dignity,
their heads in all hues of green,
body sturdy, a palette of browns.
How the colours complemented the sky.

Softly whispering in the cool breeze,
out- beating each other in growth and splendour.
Rhythmically moving to their own sweet song.
nothing seems to dim their dazzle.

Maybe I spoke too soon;
I turned around and saw the gloom,
the forest being stripped at a deadly pace.
"Timber" was their war chant as each tree succumbed,
The evil went on with supernatural strength.

At last, the end had come, no visible sign of life around.
Wait! there was one, only one,
standing in all its grandeur,
the lone survivor of a ruthless massacre,
This tree, too, like all the others, will be gone forever
never to be seen again..

Gresha Sheuilling
The British International School of Jeddah

Our first one-day international

Sri Lanka played their first official limited over match in 1975. We played against West Indies. Our captain was Anura Tennakoon. Their captain was Clive Lloyd.

Sri Lanka was all out for 86 in 37.2 overs . Somachandra de Silva scored 21 and Michael Tissera 14. Bernard Julian took 4 wickets for 20 runs.

West Indies scored 87 for one wicket in 20.6 overs. Fredricks scored 33, Murray 30 n.o. and Kallicharan 19 n.o.

West Indies won by 9 wickets. Bernard Julian was the Man of the Match.

Roshan Nanayakkara
Trinity Junior School
Kandy

Trees

Trees are reaching the sky,
Green and brown in colour,
Fruits, yellow, green, red and orange
Colours and tastes so sweet,
Brown branches and stems
Held up by trunks,
Tall and Short.

Yashod Savithri Jayasinghe
Sri Lankan School - Muscat

Mark Twain, the famous writer

Mark Twain, the famous American author was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in a small town in Missouri in 1835. After piloting river steamers along the Mississippi for four years he began writing humorous short stories for newspapers.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was Twain's first full length novel. Many of the adventures of Tom and Huck Finn actually happened to Twain in his boyhood.

Even though Twain wrote his books mainly to entertain boys and girls, he hoped that adults would read and enjoy them, and recall their own childhood.

Mark Twain died in 1910. But he left the world a true picture of American life and the American spirit in his novels, short stories and other writings

Space
From a reader

The Avurudu mood

By Uncle D. C. R

Sinhala and Tamil Avurudu is round the corner. April 14 marks the end of one year and the beginning of another. The times are decided astrologically with a time gap between the end of the old year and the start of the new year. The gap lasts for a few hours and is known as 'nonagathe' (inauspicious time) when everyone is expected to finish up all normal work and partake in religious activity.

Some of the key activities connected with the Avurudda were depicted in the Rs 8.50 stamp released to mark the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year in 1986. On the top left is a temple scene where a young family is seen offering flowers at the Bo tree to usher in the new year.

The top right hand corner shows the preparation of traditional sweetmeats - konda kevum, atiraha, mung kevum, kokis, aluva and the like.

Auspicious times are given for all activities connected with the start of the new year beginning with the lighting of the hearth and the preparation of the first meal by the housewife. There is also a specified time to have the first meal which is after 'ganu-denu' -give and take or exchanging money among close associates, worshipping the elders and giving gifts.

Applying oil on the head forms another important avurudu activity (depicted at the bottom of the stamp) when either the chief monk in the village temple or an elderly family member applies the specially prepared 'nanu' (a herbal paste) on each one's head.

Avurudu also symbolises unity. The new year stamps issued in 1987 demonstrate this aspect. The 75 cent stamp had three young girls from the Sinhala and Tamil communities happily playing on a swing.

The Rs 5 stamp had two damsels lighting the oil lamp to mark the beginning of the new year.

Happy Aluth Avurudu

The cries of the "koha" and a profusion of "erabadu" flowers herald the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Yes, it's that time of year. All the children are on holiday, the houses are being spring-cleaned and everyone is out shopping for clothes and gifts. In the villages, the big pots and pans are out for the preparation of those Avurudu sweetmeats — kevum, kokis and all those yummy stuff.

What does the New Year signify? A new beginning........a fresh start. So according to our long-followed customs we wind up the old year and stop all work including the cooking. This period between the old and the new year is called the "nonagathe".

Then we start the new year by lighting the hearth facing a particular direction at the auspicious time, wearing the colours specified, boiling milk, taking our first meal, anointing our heads with oil, having the first bath, elders transacting business and of course visiting our relatives with plates filled with goodies, not to forget our religious activity. Family reunions get priority and children will pay their respects to the elders.

In the villages, the sound of women playing the "rabana" and the "bang" of crackers will be accompanied by the shouts of children on swings and also those engaged in games such as "elle".

It is also a time to think of our plans. Yes, study hard and do one's best. With these thoughts, we wish all our young readers a very happy New Year.

Plant features

When the earth is photographed from a spacecraft, it looks many coloured. Soil, rocks, water and clouds all add different colours to the picture. Some or all of these colours could also be photographed on other planets, but one thing that makes earth look different from its fellow planets is the plentiful green colour — the colour of its living plants.

This green area includes the forests and grasslands which cover many parts of the earth's land surface. These plants are vital to all land animals, including man. The most important reason is that they provide food. Animals have very different eating habits. Some eat only plants, others eat only animals, and yet others eat both plants and animals. Yet all animals ultimately depend on plants for their lives.

Plants, the self-feeders

What, then, do plants feed on? The answer is that green plants make their own food, so building up their own bodies. All that they need to do this is sunlight, carbon dioxide gas from the air, and mineral salts from the soil.

When a gardener grows plants in a greenhouse, he is making the best possible use of the sunlight that his plants need. He may even add extra carbon dioxide to the air in his greenhouse to help his plants grow. Farmers and gardeners also provide their plants with extra mineral salts in the form of fertilizers.

Simple plants

We think of plants most readily as trees, bushes, flowers and grasses. Rather surprisingly, by far the greatest numbers of plants live not on the land but in the sea. These are the marine, or sea-living, algae. Even more surprisingly, most of these algae are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. They exist, in vast numbers, as a sort of soup floating beneath the sea's surface. This soup is called the plankton.

Some types of algae are more familiar to us than the plankton types because they are larger and more often seen. These are the seaweeds, some of which are very large indeed. But all algae, large or small, are rather simple plants when compared with higher plants such as trees.

Fungi are also rather simple plants. Unlike the algae, most kinds of fungi live on land. These include the best-known kinds, mushrooms and toadstools. However, many much smaller fungi, like many algae, live in ponds, rivers and lakes. These and the smaller land fungi are often called moulds.

Fungi are not green plants and cannot make their own food. Some live on the remains of dead animals and plants. Others live in or on the living bodies of animals and plants, often causing disease.

Higher plants

These are the best-known plants, the ones we notice most when taking country walks. Some, however, such as the mosses and liverworts, are small enough to be easily overlooked. Others, like ferns and horsetails, are somewhat larger. All these green plants reproduce themselves by means of spores .

Highest of all plants are those that reproduce themselves by means of seeds. These include all trees, flowers and grasses.

What else do plants do?

Besides providing food for man and animals, green plants also help to refresh the air of our planet. They take in the carbon dioxide breathed out by animals and made by man's fires, factories and motor vehicles. They give off oxygen which is vital for animals and man to breathe. Whatever would we do without plants!

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